Aadhaar will be mandatory for all, Centre tells SC

Lifting the curtains on the ambiguity on enrolment being voluntary, the Centre on Tuesday submitted that it will be mandatory for all. Defending the Centre's ambitious identification system, Attorney General (AG) Mukul Rohatgi added that Aadhaar was a more robust and foolproof method when compared to the Permanent Account Number (PAN) card.

Suggesting that perhaps the opposing counsels had wrongly interpreted the contested sections of the Aadhaar Act and Finance Act, the AG said, "Aadhaar is not as voluntary as they say."

The Supreme Court was hearing a batch of petitions pertaining to the constitutional legality of making Aadhaar compulsory under the Finance Act. According to that Act, passed by the Parliament in the last session of the Lok Sabha, the PAN of an individual will be invalidated unless the Aadhaar number or the enrollment number is quoted while filing tax returns.

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Claiming that biometrics cannot be faked — since fingerprints and irises were unique to individuals — Rohatgi said the PAN required secondary documents like ration card and driving licence, among other identity proofs, which in itself were not foolproof.

"Aadhaar makes a secure and robust system through which the identity of a person cannot be faked," the AG said before a bench comprising Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan.

Giving the example of an individual who is being investigated for fraud to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore, the AG said the PAN was more liable to be misused by mischief-makers. "Almost 113 crore individuals have enrolled for Aadhar as compared to 29 crore who have PAN," the AG said. "Of them, almost 10 lakh PAN cards have been found to be fake," he said, adding, "while the government found no instance of duplicate Aadhaar cards."

Rohatgi also said that the government has saved more than Rs 50,000 crore while disbursing subsidies since the introduction of Aadhaar. However, commenting on the issue of leaked Aadhaar details in Jharkhand, Rohatgi defended the Union saying that it was the state that leaked the data, not the Centre. He further added that it wasn't a big deal if Aadhaar numbers were leaked — the important point was that the biometrics weren't.

Addressing the elephant in the room, the AG said, "In this world, there is no concept of reasonable privacy." He essentially submitted that if one wanted to live in a civilised society and not like a hermit in the Himalayas, then they would have to deal with their privacy being intruded upon.

... & ANALYSIS

• The Centre pushed for mandatory Aadhaar cards, saying that it was a more robust and foolproof method than PAN cards, which can be faked.
   
• AG Mukul Rohatgi told the Supreme Court that in this world, there is no concept of reasonable privacy.
   
• He essentially submitted that if people wanted to live in a civilised society and not like hermits in the Himalayas, then they would have to deal with their privacy being intruded upon.